Chapter 16 - Suspicions of Cheating

The homeroom teachers wouldn’t have been too shocked had the invader been a regular Heroic life form.

It was a well-known fact that a single Heroic life form, even one as strong as Steely, wouldn’t be able to single-handedly fight against a large number of enemies.

However, the Heroic life form that appeared this time was different. Despite being notoriously weak among Heroic life forms, its strength could drastically surge—even rivalling the higher ranked Lord life forms—under a specific condition: being in an environment saturated with bones.

[Name: Osteomancer.]

[Race: Skeleton.]

[Rank: Heroic.]

[Talent: Osteomancy, Bone Convergence.]

The moment it appeared on the field, the scattered bone fragments on the ground flew towards the Osteomancer like metals attracted to a magnet.

Ten waves of skeletons meant a million skeletons’ worth of bone fragments was scattered around the area—enough to pile up into a large bone mountain.

Through skillful manipulation, the Osteomancer encased itself in the bone fragments and transformed into a massive mountain-sized bone giant which immediately displayed its overwhelmingly destructive force. It could easily shatter mountains with its large fists and crack the earth with every step.

The other students who had relied entirely on the abilities of their races in the earlier waves now suffered heavy losses. Within a mere three minutes, eight students were forced to withdraw from the exam owing to severe damage to their units, while the ten remaining students were doing all they could to withstand the giant’s onslaught.

However, one of them was having a far easier time than the others. The homeroom teachers had no idea how to provide a satisfactory score for Han Wu.

An Osteomancer

did

invade his divine realm. Nevertheless, the absence of bones in his divine realm, most of which had been previously burned to ashes, rendered the Osteomancer powerless. All it could do was prance around in the lava field that Han Wu had created and be such an easy target that Steely effortlessly sliced it into eighteen pieces.

The Scorching Dwarves picked up the Osteomancer’s remains as material to forge some Faith equipment.

Thus, Han Wu emerged as the first of the ten remaining students to successfully pass the eleventh wave.

“That’s cheating! He must be cheating!” Liu Letian immediately accused Han Wu of using underhanded means to attain this victory. He just couldn’t stomach the thought that Han Wu effortlessly defeated the Heroic Osteomancer.

The other homeroom teachers also began to consider that possibility, because he had cleared the wave way too easily. Some even went as far as to suspect that he might have had prior knowledge of the invading race.

Tian Wen immediately stood up for his student, declaring, “I object to that.”

Liu Letian threatened, “Tian Wen, are you really attempting to protect your student even though he cheated? Do you want me to bring the authorities into this?”

“You are publicly accusing my student of cheating. How can I take it lying down? What proof do you have to back up your absurd claims?”

Liu Letian scoffed. “Proof? Do we even need that? Everyone here is smart enough to see how suspiciously Han Wu dealt with those bones. Who would deliberately clean up a bone-strewn battlefield after battling a skeleton army?”

He took a deep breath and continued, “Only someone who knew in advance that an Osteomancer would appear would do that. He was probably clearing off the bones so he could reduce the strength of the Osteomancer! I strongly believe that he must’ve had foreknowledge of the invading race. He is undeniably cheating, and the school needs to investigate this immediately!”

Tian Wen fell silent. Though he trusted Han Wu, it was still too much of a coincidence.

Xu Mei stepped in to diffuse the situation and said, “Excuse me, all of you. I have a few things to say regarding Han Wu’s results. The contents of this exam were decided by the principal moments before it started—even I had no idea what race the students were to face before the exam began. If Han Wu received any clue about the invading race before the exam, then there’s only one explanation: the principal told him about it. Mr. Liu, do you think the principal would do something that stupid?”

Liu Letian broke into a cold sweat. If he continued to accuse Han Wu of cheating, he would also be indirectly suggesting that the principal aided him. A God like the principal would never allow themselves to be questioned, not even by Demigods.

Liu Letian dared not risk it, immediately retracting his statement. “Maybe I was wrong. Han Wu must’ve been very lucky to defeat the Osteomancer.”

Even so, Liu Letian couldn’t bear to see Han Wu getting such good results, so he continued, “However, even assuming he did not cheat, Han Wu’s result is still unfair to the other students.”

The other homeroom teachers collectively looked at Xu Mei, realizing that they were at a disadvantage because of Han Wu’s excellent performance so far. With Han Wu around, their students stood no chance to win first place in this competition. Only if he was suppressed could they secure access to preferential treatment for resources.

Xu Mei, however, chuckled mockingly.“Mr. Liu, you are a highly respected Demigod, yet you have no idea how incredibly stupid you sound. The Divine Civilization has never been fair when it comes to nurturing the next generation—only the strong receive resources. No matter how Han Wu achieves his results, as long as he doesn't cheat, he will be credited for them.

“Also, while we’re on the subject of fairness, don’t you think you’ve overstepped your boundaries as a teacher and secretly given your nephew extra resources? Do you think it’s fair to your other students? Is it fair to them that Qin Shuang’s family could give her tens of millions of Divine Power for her to build her divine realm?”

Liu Letian grew quiet, realizing Xu Mei had already investigated everything about him.

“You bastard! So Liu Mo was your nephew! No wonder you used him to bet against Han Wu!” Tian Wen exclaimed, instantly understanding that Liu Letian had planned beforehand to trap him. Though, he suddenly remembered how easily Han Wu had defeated the Osteomancer and chuckled.

“To think you shot yourself in the foot. Han Wu has passed the eleventh stage, but it seems your nephew might be in trouble. There has been a significant surge in difficulty, after all.”

With that “helpful” reminder, Liu Letian hastily checked Liu Mo’s divine realm. Unfortunately, the Osteomancer was on a rampage. Many of the buildings had been destroyed and numerous Elite Hobgoblins had been trampled to death.

Liu Mo tried to withstand the assault of the bone giant but failed. He had to surrender. In the end, Liu Mo clinched seventh place. It wasn’t bad, but he couldn’t surpass Han Wu in the end.

Tian Wen chuckled with pleasure. “If the results weren’t obvious before, they are now. My student passed the eleventh stage while Liu Mo, your nephew and student, failed. Mr. Liu, I know that you are not so dishonorable as to back out on our bet with everyone present. Hand over the five Divine Essence you owe me.”

Liu Letian really didn’t want to, but he couldn’t embarrass himself any further. He gritted his teeth and reluctantly took out five Divine Essence from his divine realm, condensed them into a card, and handed it over to Tian Wen.

During the process, however, he warned, “Keep those five Divine Essence well because I will take them back one day.”

Tian Wen received the card eagerly and responded, “Thank you for the Divine Essence. Also, I will make sure the day you speak of will never arrive.”

The ranked exam continued even after their bet had concluded.